if i only knew...

Expat blogs in Budapest

Recently i began finding more and more cool blogs from Hungary. For a cool taste of Budapest, visit these gems:

Pestiside which is a refreshingly fun, no-nonsense and intelligent (*) look at contemporary life in Hungary by a top journalist of the local English press
(*) which is not always the case with journalists from the Hungarian language press

Budapest and the Rest, by "a decadent dilettante, a frivolous melancholic, a lady of fashion, currently doing the expat thing in Budapest"

and there is of course jay allen, who needs no introduction this side of the blogosphere i think.

Donate. NOW. They need it more than us.

Donation for Tsunami Relief effort, at amazon.com.

Leaves

I love autumn leaves. And i know i am not alone.

Here is a cute post at Jewlicious on the subject.

Also, great eye candy again at flickr: autumn, leaves, fall.

RHCP rocks

From the RHCP official site:
Live In Hyde Park rocks the charts

Only just released, Live In Hyde Park, the Chili Pepper's first live album, prooves itself to be the soundtrack to this summer's theme by taking the European charts by storm. Here are the first official chart ratings, a sequel is expected...

#1 in the UK
#1 Switzerland
#2 Austria
#3 in Italy
#4 in Holland
#5 in Ireland
#5 in France
#8 in Germany

I love collecting recordings of concerts i went to. Otherwise there are very few live recordings that interest me, but concerts i went to are special. This one is on the same level of coolness as the recording of the August 2003 Vancouver REM gig i went to. I hunted that down on murmurs and even though it's sort of crap to actually listen to (music quality is bad), the fact that i have the little monologue from Stipe about the Mars being close to Earth and how the Moon is shining above us, that perfectly reminds me of the place, the sound, the people and everything is really really cool.

Even though this Hyde Park concert was not as good as the one they gave in Wiener Neustadt (see my feelings about that one here), but the two CDs still rock. (no pun intended)

Get it. Now.

Urban planning and transportation blog

I should really set up a remaindered links log to store these found links...

Beyond Brilliance, Beyond Stupidity: positive and negative "developments in transportation, urban planning, design, the environment, the internet and many other vaguely related areas".

Bizarre story

Boy used chat room to get himself killed
This is easily the most bizarre story i have read for a few years... in Britain a 15-year-old boy (John) played a pretty scary mind game with a friend of his (who he fell in love with, called Mark) through Internet chat. He introduced himself as a teenage girl, then invented fictious secret agents, who instructed poor Mark to kill John "promising him a gun, a large sum of money and a meeting with British Prime Minister Tony Blair as a reward". Mark than actually stabbed him and nearly succeeded in killing him, but he got scared and called the police. They lied to the police, but then the chat logs were found and the whole story discovered.

" Some of his inspiration came from James Bond films and the science-fiction blockbuster Men In Black."

"Mark admitted attempted murder and was given a two-year supervision order. The boys were also banned from contacting each other. John was ordered to use the internet only under supervision and told that he must never go into a chat room again."

Origami VW New Beetle

Calling all origami masters: if you can fold me a copy of this, let me know. I am sure we can figure out a deal...

Takeout menu organizer DIY

Yet another item on the do-it-myself-instead-of-paying-$30-to-buy list:
Takeout menu organizer

Just a blog meme

Following Caterina:

1. Grab the nearest book.
2. Open the book to page 23.
3. Find the fifth sentence.
4. Post the text of the sentence in your journal along with these instructions.

"When i first visited the workshop in 1994, most pieces were signed 'Manuel Jimenez.'"

From Crafting Tradition : The Making and Marketing of Oaxacan Wood Carvings
by Michael Chibnik

My two favourite famous people

Helena Christensen has been my favourite model ever since i first saw her in girlie mags when i was 11. She has the most beutiful face, full of character and not just the empty anorexic body that other supermodels sport.

Michael Stipe has been my favourite singer for ages. He has the best voice among current singers, rock, pop or any genre, really. Plus he is also a great personality. (But i don't have to tell you that, do i?)

Now, my favourite model (turned photographer, journalist) interviews my favourite singer:
The Observer: Helena Christensen meets Michael Stipe.

Sort of a chatartic reading experience. :)

Bonus: here is a photo of them together.

A letter to my future self

This is quite possibly the coolest link i ever posted in my blog: F u t u r e M e . o r g allows you to type up an email to yourself (or anyone else) that will be delivered on a future date that you specify.

I sent a letter to my future self to be delivered 6 months from now. I am making really important decisions right now about my future, so it was nice to be able to write down where i am right now, and what i hope to have accomplished by 6 months from now. I included a few reminders about my current motivation, so that i am reminded when i read the letter about where i started and why i am doing what i am doing in the first place. It will be interesting to read it and reflect on what has changes, what i accomplished, etc...

And a bonus cool fact: 6 months from now will be October 9th exactly. Which is my birthday.
I love the universe when it's playing tricks like this on me. :)

I am a night owl

Good article by the Seattle Times: How to rise and shine when you're nocturnal by nature. Apart from being an entertaining read it has usable advice on how to program your brain into getting up earlier than your natural sleep habits.

Plus:
"As soon as you wake up, get sunlight exposure for at least 15 to 30 minutes. Whether you take the time to walk the dog or drink your coffee on the patio, get outside." - one more terrific reason to get a dog, it helps with your sleep habits...

Google for lyrics search, my way and the API way

Ever since i started using search engines, i have been using them to find the titles of songs that i catch on the radio, MTV, or stuck in my head. You put the snippet from the lyrics that you remember, plus the word "lyrics" in the search engine and it gives you a whole bunch of sites with the full lyrics, artist names and all the related info.

Now there is a Google API application that simplifies this task and provides a cleaner results page: Search for Music by Lyrics.

(My problem with these little api applications are that they are brilliant, but i tend to forget or lose the URL and then i end up doing stuff the old way again, typing my stuff into google... In my dream world, google would buy all these applications and put it on their site so that we can access them more easily. :) )

Giving a photo the magazine cover treatment

This is an oldie, one of those links that you get from 5 of your friends forwarded to you randomly every year, but it's worth saving for later. So here it is: Greg's Digital Portfolio - how real humans are transformed into flawless magazine cover beauties using Photoshop, and other such projects explained.

Same-sex SF marriages

On February 12, San Francisco started performing same-sex marriages in City Hall and Derek went and took wonderful pictures of the newly weds. Really great photos to look at, all the pure joy and happiness. I hope my country will get there in my lifetime. I wouldn't bet on it, but i sure hope things improve for same-sex couples here, there is a long long way to go.

He also wrote a story about it on San Francisco Diary: Derek M. Powazek: Weddings on the Brain.

Knitting is the new yoga

B&N strarted selling Suss Knit Kits in their bookstores this week, and in the press release announcing the launch, they mention this: "Sales of books on knitting are soaring at Barnes & Noble, up 60 percent over last year." So if you needed quantitative proof that knitting is the new yoga, there you have it.

While cheking out the website for the kits, i came across the "client list" of the kits' designer, Suss Cousins: "Among her students and clients are Julia Roberts, Julianne Moore, Angela Bassett, Bill Cosby, Courtney Vance, Magic Johnson, Dustin Hoffman, Rhea Perlman, Lawrence Fishburne, Roseann Barr, Benjamin Bratt, Whoopi Goldberg, Heavy D, Steven Webber, Jada Pinket Smith, David Alan Grier, Kelly Preston, Robin Williams, Dermot Mulroney, Catherine Keener, Terrence Trent D'Arby and Elizabeth Shue."

I was kind of blown away. Julia Roberts' knitting hobby has been documented by just about every women's mag on the planet. Julianne, Angela, Whoopi, not bid surprises. But Bill Cosby, Magic Johnson, Dustin Hoffman, Lawrence Fishburne, and Robin Williams? I just can't produce the mental image of them sitting down to knit away on multicolored yarn to produce a fuzzy scarf. :)

Fashion visuals: the ugly and the beatiful

A very thoughtful photo-essay about The Decline of Fashion Photography: An argument in pictures. If, like me, you've increasingly grown annoyed by the bland, boring, visually uninspiring or downright stupid photos in the fashion spreads of magazines in recent years, you'll like this essay. The good news is, there is penty of positive examples and i especially liked on of them: the fashion illustrations of Tobie Giddio (this would be the beauty part).

Quirky online exhibits

Somewhat different than last week's NYPL finds, these online exhibits show everyday stuff from a different angle.

Circus of Disemboweled Plush Toys, japanese product design: toys & candy, Trasury of Macrame Owls (i have one too!!!), 75 Years of Band-Aid Packaging
All of these found via the Museum of Online Museums

when i'm feeling blue...

... all i have to do, is take a look at these: TAMANiMALS or play a game or two at Orisinal.

PS: I am not feeling blue right now, in fact, i am very happy, but i wanted to save these for blueer days. :)

Online exhibits at NYPL

Wonderful online exhibitions at the New York Public Library.

I remember when around 1996 i first came across an online exhibition that explored personality theories in psychology, i was totally thrilled. These exhibitions are equally well done and very educational and fun at the same time.

Vancouver time travel

This is SO cool: Vancouver views 1978 and 2003. Choose the rollover images. I have a roll of film that i shot about Budapest, following photos of Budapest views from 1896. One more item on the to-do list, i guess....
{link from Chris}

My zeitgeist

Thanks to Jay's help, the Zeitgeist is now working. It's so much fun, i think i will try to put it on the front page.

I need to make snowflakes

Fun thing to procrastinate with this Monday morning: Make-a-Flake - A snowflake maker.

Shrek, Scrat, Mike Wazowski et al

I found a link to the new Shrek 2 trailer on kottke's sidebar, and i am totally delighted. Shrek 1 was funny, shrek 2 will be even funnier. And the trailer made me think about Ice Age and Monster Inc, too, and how funny those were. It seems to me that the animation movie bunch finally took an exit from Highway to Disneyland, and found it's true self in these films. They are funny, they look awesome and they make clever use of the actors giving them their voices and the soundtracks. Just listen to all the music on the Shrek 2 trailer, it's nothing like previous animation movies at all, and it gives the film a new kind of vibe. I can't wait.

PS: I hate the Euro - North America entertainment industry divide that is responsible for me having to wait until THIS WEEK for the movie premiere of Finding Nemo in Hungary. For god's sake, the DVD came out a month ago in North America!!!!!

Clark, the internet and the presidential race

I am very very very happy that there is finally a high profile internationally well-known Democrat presidential candidate. I have heard of Dean and saw his internet-powered campaign, but i do not recognise him. I am a European so i am only aware of the US politicians who get airtime on CNN International and Wesley Clark is definitely someone who is well known in Europe. I first got to know him during the NATO intervention in Yugoslavia in 1999, and ever since then he has been given lots of airtime as an analyst in international issues and conflicts and politics.

Today Wired ran a story about how Clark was actually convinced to run by the internet community: Clark's Run: Net made him do it
"Clark apparently decided to run following an elaborate Internet-based draft movement that grew on its own, without much help from the candidate himself. The organization had established offices in all 50 states, run radio ads in New Hampshire and garnered nearly $1.6 million in pledges as of Tuesday afternoon, according to one of its organizers, John Hlinko."

Yet another of these amazing stories about the internet and the people connected by it.

Victorian visions of Y2K

Apparently, victorian postcard makers were a pretty creative bunch, they invented the moving walkways that we now use on every airport, and undersea tourist boats that take tourists' hard earned holiday $$$ at every single one of the globe's seaside resorts. Then there're also the rather entertaining thoughts of moving entire blocks of houses on train tracks by a locomotive...
A very interesting and enjoyable journey back in time, and then forward by postcards:
Victorian Visions of the Year 2000

Pissing on your cat and other stories

This is a hilarious story about a man and his kitten's addiction to his bathroom activities. Yes, all activities.

Famous peoples' blogs - actually interesting

There's Moby's, Jamie Oliver's (the naked chef), and Body Shop founder Anita Roddick's.

Webbies

This year's Webby Awards nominees again provided much fun exploring sites i haven't seen before. A few examples:

Orisinal Games - wicked fun jumping around with teddy bears for no real reason, or keeping balloons floating with cheesy cheery-happy songs as background music. And, they have an even trippier game than Collapse... Bouns

Japanese Streets - crazy fashion from Japan, i would never dress like that but it's fun to see!

Hey Nostradamus

There's finally some info on what the new Coupland book, Hey Nostradamus will be like. (And a light redesign at coupland.com.) I must say i am a bit disappointed. In previous Coupland books i didn't enjoy the apocaliptyc, very dark scenes so much, as his more lighthearted situations like in Microserfs or even Life After God, which wasn't a happy novel, but at least godzillas didn't dominate it. For example, i put down Girlfriend in a coma when the world started to go down. It simply did not fascinate me, and i didn't enjoy the book any more. I never picked it up again to finish it.

On the other hand, Columbine, and the social implications and reasons of the tragedies like it interest me, and i can't wait to see what Coupland makes of it.

And.... i was looking forward to stopping by at a bookstore in Vancouver when i arrive in July, on the way home YVR, just to pick up a new copy, but looks like it won't happen, because the book is published in July in the US and only in September in Canada. :( So i will have to rely on amazon.com again i guess...

Latte art

One day, when i will finally open my coffee house, i will serve coffee like this: Latte Art

Do they care enough?

A hosting company's front page says:
"Hosting solutions starting at JUST $9.95 / month. If your looking to establish a presence on the web for the first time or if your an experienced developer we have a solution for you. We pride ourselves in offering advanced features for just a fraction of what other providers charge."
But we do not care enough to know the very basics of English grammar and do not care enough about our image to spellcheck at least the sales pitch on our front page.
Wonderful. Not.

Svenska mania

So my Sweden-obsession now got scientifically (not) validated:

Ah, I vudd suggester SWEDISH as jor langvedge to
spiek.


What language are you supposed to speak?
brought to you by Quizilla

PS: Yes, i still hate blog quizzes, but this is actually relevant, and i decided it's cool enough. ;)

Alaska saved

Yay! Senate Rejects Oil Drilling in Alaskan Refuge

At least one piece of good news among all the war preparations...

Funny thing on amazon

I was browsing amazon UK yesterday and saw this invitation to buy used address books and more:

I thought it was funny... they should call them second hand or something. A used address book has little value unless you're a direct marketer...

Fun study for Valentine's Day

A new study found "that your kissing partner is twice as likely to turn his head to the right than to the left for smooching." The guy came to the conclusion after spying on 224 kissing couples in various public places on 2 continents. So i wonder... when he kisses his partner these days can he really stop thinking about what side he just turned his head? :)

Absolutely silly link of the

Absolutely silly link of the day: you take a toy car and position it on a picture you take in such a way that it looks like a real car in the traffic among the real real cars, and post your photos on Parking Spots. Yet another piece of evidence that people have too much time on their hands... I have to try it next week... [found through metafilter]

I haven't even finished exploring

I haven't even finished exploring last year's winners, and here's the next batch already: Third Annual Weblog Awards (Bloggies 2003)

Brain candy for magazine addicts

Brain candy for magazine addicts like me: A history of magazines

Wise-Women: An online community and

Wise-Women: An online community and network dedicated to supporting women web designers, developers, and programmers.

More blogging yummyness to read

More blogging yummyness to read when i am less sleepy: Second Annual Weblog Awards, coloredgirls.com, formica.ca, photojunkie.org, luminescent.org

I have to explore this

I have to explore this better when i don't have studying to do instead: YAYHOORAY!

Today's livejournal find: ikea (yes

Today's livejournal find: ikea (yes - it's a userID)

Just posting here so i

Just posting here so i don't forget to read it: Bookslut lesson: How to Choose a Book by Its Cover
. Sounds interesting. :)

Ok, i am so tired

Ok, i am so tired of quizzes popping up everywhere, but i couldn't resist:

what color chucks are you?
brought to you by Quizilla

Interesting random bits about the

Interesting random bits about the Nordic countries (my obsession) at The Nordic Countries' LiveJournal

Today's new reading: C'est La

Today's new reading: C'est La Bombe and Sarah B

Cutest little doggie.

Cutest little doggie.